Electronic Weapons: February 14, 2005

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Dutch electronics firm TNO has developed a software addition for night vision devices that colorizes the usual monochrome (green and white, or gray and white) image. The system draws on a library of colors associated with certain objects. Colorizing the night vision image makes things a lot easier to pick out, even if the colorization is not perfect. Colorization technology got started in the 1980s with the development of a similar system to help with the colorization of old black and while movies. With computer memory getting cheaper and smaller, it is practical to build such a system into current night vision equipment without making them much larger or heavier (maybe a pound or two.) In combat, the speed with which you can make out what is a target, and what is not, can be a matter of life and death. The colorization will also make depth perception available, as this is generally lacking in current monochrome night vision gear.